Hi,
My daughter was direct admit at IU Kelley, and conditionally offered a seat at HKUST, school of business and management.
We are from Taiwan and haven’t decided if she will work in the US or Asia after college.
Would love to hear any thoughts from you, thank you in advance!
How much will IU cost? Which school does she like more?
Also how much will HKUST cost?
Wow what a different choice. The skyscrapers of bustling Hong Kong versus the vast expanse of Indiana in the heartland of America.
Both are so great in their own way. I think a wonderful and highly ranked American University would play well in Asia and HKUST would have cache in the US.
I would suggest HKUST for a job in USA coupled with an American MBA would be fantastic.
In Asia, the Kelley school and the wonderful language strength for her English that you would develop would be a great combo.
In USA, I also think that a Kelley grad with natural strength in Chinese dialects would be a real strength for work in the USA. Especially for a Taiwanese citizen.
For me if it wasn’t too much of a cultural shock. IU and Kelley School direct admission works well on either continent. And USA connections would be much stronger.
“We are from Taiwan and haven’t decided if she will work in the US or Asia after college.”
Unless she is a US dual citizen or has legal permanent resident (green card) status here, you don’t get to decide if she will work in the US after college. That will be decided by whatever immigration policies are in effect at that time. Currently international students with F1 visa status have the option of remaining in the US for a year (or possibly more if they major in an STEM field) to gain practical work experience with OPT. Unfortunately, many international students are unable to find employers who are willing to hire them for that year in that status and they end up returning home sooner than they would like. This means that your daughter should communicate directly with the people at Kelley. How successful are they at placing their international students in jobs for the OPT year? Of those, how many are able to find H1B (work) visa sponsors and remain in the US if that is what they want to do?
@happymomof1 Fantastic guidance and info. Good to remember!
Thank you all ! I really appreciate every response.
I forgot to mention that she is also an US citizen and graduated from an American high school here.
Cost at HKUST is much lower but this is not an important factor for us when facing a college choice.
Whew! That makes all the difference for working here.
For working in the US, Kelley hands-down.
I doubt most American hiring managers would have heard of HKUST.
Even in HK, the local Big 3 there would be behind the very top American tier (Ivies/equivalents). Tougher to say vs. Kelley. But alums of an American school like Kelley probably would be willing to help out more than HKUST alums (more school spirit and buy-in in to the benefits of a strong strong network from Americans than most other nationalities in the world, with very few exceptions).
Does she know what industries she is aiming for?
Costs aren’t an issue?
Thank you, purpletitan.
Kelley is no doubt an excellent business school . However, looking at the QS world university ranking , overall or by subject, HKUST is top 40 in the world. For "business and management ", HKUST is #12 (even higher than Columbia U). For “accounting and fianance” which my daughter is going to major, it ranks #18.
What do you think about the ranking , please ? I would love to hear more opinions.
Costs are not an issue, yes.
sorry, I mean, no, costs are not an issue.
Could you also help me choose among these American business schools ? UIUC Gies, BU Questrom, IU Kelley.
I was leaning more toward IU Kelley but would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you very much !
When you look at a ranking system, you need to know what the formula ia based on. Is it comparing undergraduate programs or graduate programs? Who are they collecting the data from - hiring managers? corporation presidents? university admissions databases?
If your daughter has a clear career goal right now, the question to ask the university departments and career centers, is how many students with that goal are able to enter the first step of the pathway to that higher goal. The questions to ask professional who hire for those positions, are whether it matters or not where she goes to college, what her program of study should include, and what internship experiences should she have.
I have 2 Gies kids. My daughter graduated May 2017 with a double major in Finance and Supply Chain. She currently works in Chicago at a Big 3 Consulting firm. My son will be graduating in May with a double major in Accounting and Finance and a minor in Technology and Management. He will be doing financial consulting in Chicago post-graduation.
As Chicago-area residents, UIUC was a very good choice for both of them.
Job placement in Chicago is high.
https://business.illinois.edu/bcs/recruiters/statistics/ug-stats/
https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fuofi.box.com%2Fs%2Fxmq21r645v4n0c6x3qqrgczxyslzc8ti
AP credit is generous. My son is taking the CPA exams without having to complete a 5th year to get to 150 credit hours.
https://admissions.illinois.edu/apply/freshman/college-credit-ap
Gies has a very well-run study abroad office.
https://studyabroad.business.illinois.edu/programs/
Something I would consider when choosing a school is personal and professional growth opportunities and access to those opportunities. The classroom experience is important, but there is so much more to the undergraduate experience. My kids joined consulting clubs and a coed business fraternity. Those experiences were invaluable.
Yes, every university has these type of growth opportunities, but since they are often selective (application and interviews) the ability to participate in them has an element of uncertainty. Kelley concerned us with their huge incoming class size of over 1600…compared to Gies at ~700.
Another thing in Gies’ favor is the access to UIUC’s strong College of Engineering. It not only draws a lot of companies to campus, it gave my kids the chance to work on projects with engineering students.
I hope I didn’t ramble on too much, but my family is very happy with both the Gies experience and their post-graduation outcomes. I shouldn’t forget to mention how a good fit can lead to solid friendships. My daughter just informed us that she and her Gies roommates are going to live together for another year in their current location. My son and 3 Gies friends are planning on getting an apartment together in Chicago. I hope your daughter has as good an outcome, regardless of where she chooses to go.
Nobody in the working world cares about those rankings. Brands matter but not those rankings.
I believe QS measures the faculty’s publishing prowess, which is pretty worthless when it comes to job placement.
In Asia, all of them are well below the top American schools. Possible that HKUST has an edge in HK simply because it is local. Kelley may be the most international (in Asia) of the American schools. For the US, I would pick any of the American schools over HKUST.
The 3 American b-schools will have different strengths in different areas based on geography and interests.
What interests will she have? What type of environment does she like?
BTW, this has nothing to do with ROI, but I think she would enjoy the traditional American college experience (especially on a traditional college campus like IU or UIUC) more.
I’d also encourage her to study-abroad where ever she attends undergrad.
Although she applied to accounting for all these b-school,we are not sure yet if she will definitely stay in accounting after taking accounting classes.
Her goal might be the CPA exam , or a job in banking or consulting. Not very clear at this stage.
If accounting, she really needs to decide where she can/wants to work. American accounting rules can be quite different from most of the rest of the world.
Yes, that is one of my concern. So will you suggest HKUST if considering the different accounting principles? Or that will not cause big problems ?